An Al Jazeera report that aired on Sunday linking numerous NFL and MLB stars to HGH and steroid use has caused quite a stir in the sports world. Ryan Howard of the Phillies and Ryan Zimmerman of the Nationals, the two baseball stars named in the report, have both been supported by their teams on Sunday.
Nationals, Phillies back Ryan Zimmerman, Ryan Howard denials of Al Jazeera steroid report
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Howard and Zimmerman were linked in the report to Delta-2, a hormonal drug that is described as "steroidal in nature." Journeyman catcher Taylor Teagarden was also in the report, seen in hidden camera footage describing his own use of performance-enhancing drugs.
The Nationals issued a statement calling into question the veracity of the Al Jazeera report:
Ryan Zimmerman has been an integral member of the Washington Nationals family for the past 11 years. During that time, he has been the model for all that we ask out players to be - contributing to his team, to his community, and to the game of baseball.
We do not find Al Jazeera’s report - which has already been recanted by their source - to be credible.
Ryan has unequivocally stated that these allegations are false. The Lerner family and our organization fully support him. We are confident Major League Baseball’s investigation will show the allegations levied in the report are unfounded.
We will fully cooperate with MLB, and refer all questions to them at this time.
The Phillies similarly supported Howard with a statement of their own on Sunday:
Ryan Howard has vigorously denied the allegations contained in tonight’s airing of Al Jazeera’s report titled ‘The Dark Side.’ Ryan has spent his whole career with the Phillies and, during that entire time, has been an extremely well respected member of our team and an outstanding contributor to our community. We will fully cooperate with any investigation conducted by Major League Baseball and will refer all further questions to them concerning the Al Jazeera report.
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